Cold Case
by Talek Darkbrook
Summary: Lightning, rain, creatures and swords. The web becomes more tangled. Chapter 4 is up. I don't own Torchwood or any other known franchise that might be mentioned here. I just own what isn't already owned.
1. Cardiff

**Cold Case**

Episode One

Chapter one: Cardiff

**1972: London**

The fog had barely lifted at 7:25 AM, and two men attending a murder scene beside the Thames, close by to the infamous Canary Wharf, drew up their collars against the bitter winter cold.

"Found at about five this morning by a drunk couple. Sobered them up right quickly, I expect. According to our forensic team's initial estimate, he'd been dead for about three hours by the time police were on the scene. So from roughly two o'clock this morning." The fifty something, moustachioed detective informed his colleague; a taller, grey-haired individual.

"The head was found just here, where we are?"

The first detective nodded, "Rolled here after separation, no indication that it was tampered with after death. There were a number of other wounds upon the body, most with fatality potential, but it was decapitation that killed him, even without lab results, our team's pretty adamant about that."

"What of the murder weapon?"

"Something that could deliver a quick slice. The head wasn't hacked off; it was done in one blow. It would have to have been something incredibly sharp, quite long."

"So, we'd be looking for a nutter with a sword then?"

"Seems so. But there's not a clue to go on. Forensics has been sweeping the area all morning, I'm keeping them on as long as I can, but we've not turned up a thing. Not a shred of anything that would give a clue to the killer's identity." He sighed, "We don't even know who the victim is. Probably a local tramp or vagrant…"

"Hmm. You're going to hate me for this, but our sword-wielding nutter is no longer our concern."

"What… Why? The investigation is still in it's early stages, we can't close the investigation without even trying, people live and work around here, this nutter could be extremely dangerous to people!"

The taller man shook his head. "You care too much, become too attached. This is no longer an open investigation. Close up, and clean up the mess. I'm sorry."

The other man could only stare and utter one word as his colleague began to walk away from the scene; "Why?"

"Top orders. Special Op's." Came the embittered reply.

The clean up crew began to descend and the moustachioed man took one last look at the headless body. A small disk of metal, clutched into the palm of the corpse's hand caught his attention, and, deftly, he rescued it, unseen by the rest of the team around him. Admittedly, Forensics had probably already entered into the case notes, but still, no one would worry much about its absence, especially now the case was locked. Elsewhere, London began to wake up and pulsate with the start of a new day.

2006: Cardiff 

It was barely a blip on the atmospheric monitors, yet the electromagnetic sensors blared out that something was not right. Red lights flashed brightly- an electronic bleeping punctuating each flare. Jack rushed towards Tosh's desk, as she rapidly typed the codes the computers were asking for. The Captain furrowed his brow, peering over her shoulder.

"Tosh, what've we got?"

More typing accompanied her response; "Electromagnetic spike, South of Splott on Freshmoor Road. The others had filtered in, Gwen at a hurried trot, while Owen arrived leisurely, stretching his arms and yawning.

"Perfect," He complained "And here I was, just about looking forward to going home…"

"You mean clubbing" Gwen teased.

"Well, that is where I feel most at home" He joked, in good humour.

Jack rose quickly, yet, strangely at the same time leisurely, asserting both his authority, to take control of the team in an instant, and to reaffirm the need to leave quickly.

"As much as I enjoy the banter you two come up with, I'm afraid we have an electro-atmospheric anomaly to investigate, and the last time I kept one of those waiting half of Splott nearly turned into one of the biggest alien mating grounds on Earth. Let's go!" Jack's greatcoat twisted around him as he jogged towards the exit "Toshiko, keep monitoring, keep us updated!"

Gwen followed with Owen trailing behind them, Ianto had to sidestep to let them pass, as he entered with a small tray of coffee and biscuits.

In minutes the SUV was speeding towards Freshmoor Road, Tosh keeping the team updated. "The signal's dying, but I've patched into CCTV around the area. The nearest one seems to be showing some form of electronic discharge… It's barely there anymore, looks like somebody phoned the police too. Scanning the radio network, there are two cruisers on the way."

"Good work Tosh, we'll be there in a few minutes."

"Great… I just hate it when there's coppers all over the scene" muttered Owen, irritably, while Gwen sat silent and Jack wore his trademark smirk.

"Jack, there's something else," Came Tosh's voice again, sounding puzzled and a little alarmed "According to the police radio, this is a homicide."

An ominous rumble of thunder sounded not far off, and Gwen found herself wishing, not for the first time, that it didn't always have to revolve around death…

Back in London, as the Torchwood SUV sped towards the murder scene in Cardiff, something started to glow. Tucked away in a small wooden jewellery box, stowed amongst a pile of cardboard boxes, a small metal disc began to emit a pale blue light. Strange engravings began to form, carved, apparently, by a stronger, deeper blue light that seemed to emit from within the metal. Almost immediately, this light was followed by a soft electric hum, which soon became a whine. All around the area, dogs began to bark, while the light became stronger, taking a reddish glow. There was a sudden burst of energy as red light shot upwards from the device, cutting through the metal roof and leaving, in the ceiling, a blackened, reversed version of the engraving upon the artefact.

Alerted by the commotion of the lights and barking dogs, the owner of the garage hurried down his garden path and threw open the door, mouth open in astonishment at the scene. The retired policeman was not amazed by the shattered jewellery box, smouldering cardboard or even the fact that his ceiling had a design burnt into it, but rather, what the newly made engravings depicted. Staring down at him, from his ceiling, was the smouldering simplified likeness of Adolf Hitler.


	2. Collapse

Cold Case 

Episode 1

Chapter 2: Collapse

**2006: London**

Beneath the bustling streets of the English capital, a dark and historic labyrinth breathes with life, yet is filled with death. It is a place so historic, so sinister and so perfect for things that need to be hidden. There are tunnels and chambers so far down and so far in that most people would never know of them, and even fewer could find or get to them. These tunnels are the perfect place of residence for a branch of the Torchwood organisation to remain hidden and carry out classified tests and research. At least, that was the general idea. They hadn't known about him. They weren't prepared for something like this. The darkly clothed, hooded figure smiled, almost an invisible expression in the darkness, yet still it sent shivers to the very core of Gerald Brock. Brock was the lead man down in this section of Torchwood. He was the overseer of all the experiments and answered only to those of head office, up north in Edinborough.

"You have delayed these events for far too long. There are no more left; you are the last survivor." Came the slight Scottish tongue from the hood. There was a click as, within his long sleeve, the figure activated something that emitted an electronic beeping. "Now, you will give me the code."

Brock had been well trained and was extremely disciplined. He stood firm, shaking his greyed head slowly in defiance. "I shall tell you nothing."

The smile twisted further, becoming a cold smirk. "Who said you have to tell me anything?" The figure's right arm raised, and fired a beam of watery blue energy from the centre of a strange, silver, crescent moon shaped device.

Brock stumbled backwards as the beam bored into his forehead, feeling an unpleasant heat begin to boil within his skull. He cried out as he felt, and heard, his skull begin to crack, his view turning to nothing but darkest red as his eyes began to bleed heavily. All the while, flashes of blue lightning surrounded both figures, travelling from Brock to the hooded figure or the device in his hand. The electronic beeping continued until Brock fell to the floor, barely alive. There was a buzz and the then silence as the device shut down. The dark figure looked down at his victim as he placed the device back inside his cloak, replacing it with a well-maintained single hand sword, similar in style to a claymore, yet smaller.

"It's never quite the same." That barely Scottish tone sounded almost breathless, or pained now. The sword was raised and seconds later, Brock's pain ended as his head was removed from his shoulders.

2006: Cardiff

The police had cleared the area and set up a cordon as the Torchwood Cardiff team were disembarking from their vehicle and retrieving their equipment from the back.

"Alright," Jack barked as the three of them approached the body "No one else is to approach this corpse, leave this to Torchwood, thank you!" Addressing the nearby officers as Gwen offered them an awkward smile, recognizing two as former colleagues.

The ground around the body had become slick with blood, the cause of death all too obvious. The victim's head lay approximately two metres away, having rolled for a short distance. Owen was crouched beside the main body, inspecting it critically.

"Looks like he was kneeling at the time, cause of death…" He paused "Well, that's obvious. What's this?" He carefully opened the hand of the corpse, intent on retrieving the little metal disk.

"There's some sort of design on it." Gwen remarked, trying to keep her mind away from emotional attachment to the grizzly sight of the body and the awkwardness of the presence of her former colleagues. "What do you make of it Jack?"

The Captain seemed to snap out of some form of daydream or thought process, switching his gaze from the body to Gwen and then the disk with a slight smile.

"Looks like writing to me. Doesn't look like anything on modern Earth though. Tosh?" He spoke into his earpiece now as he retrieved a camera phone from his pocket. "I'm sending a photo, can you try and analyse the design on the disk. It might be some form of writing."

"Alright, I'll see what I can find. Ianto wants to know if you're going to need that body in the hub? He'll set up the med' bay for when you arrive."

Owen spoke into his earpiece now, unconsciously nodding as he did so. "Yep, stiff's coming home with us. Something about this one's got me puzzled."

"You get that Tosh?" Jack asked, knowing he needn't have bothered.

"Loud and clear Jack. Ianto also wants to know if you're hungry?"

Jack grinned as Gwen answered in the affirmative and Owen mentioned something about having some pizza coupons hidden in various places.

Gwen noticed that the police presence had thinned some now, and only one officer she knew from her old job was present. _Well, that's some relief _she thought to herself, feeling quite ashamed for some reason. Mostly she wished she could make amends with her old friends, that she could stop feeling so awkward and stop dreading the idea of them being present.

Owen seemed quieter than usual; a trait that Gwen had come to believe was a sign of him seriously thinking about a case. There had something in his face, something on the dawn of recognition, yet puzzled. She'd seen it just once before.

Jack's expression had been similar. He was trying to mask it, but Gwen was certain Jack knew, or recognized, something about this particular event, and from what she knew of Jack's character, it was bound to be something from his personal history.

Too late, she realised she'd slipped off into her own thoughts as she saw Jack staring at her and heard Owen taunting. "Oi! Come on, there's a pizza back at the hub and I wanna get a slice before Tosh scoffs the lot, so daydream later!"

Soon they'd loaded the body and stowed the equipment and were on their way back towards the hub.

2006: Glastonbury Tor

A hazy blue light flooded the top of the ancient site, triangular shards of energy swarming in and out around the stone ruins. A lone figure stood, having just exited the energy cloud, remnants of blue lightning reached out, sparking for a few seconds before retreating into the energy cloud.

The figure, a tall mousey-haired brunette woman stood for a moment longer, gazing over the Somerset countryside before she began to make her way down the hill, a decorative, yet battle ready rapier, colichemarde-style, hung securely from a scabbard, belted around her waist. As she strode down the hillside, behind her the energy cloud swirled and pulsated once more before it was gone, fading into an ink-like blackness.

A grim determination was set on her face as she approached the road, her mind on the task ahead.


	3. Them

Episode 1

Chapter 3: Them

**London 2006**

Beneath the simplified image of Adolf Hitler, looking down from the underside of a garage roof, a slick red mess was splashed and spread across the floor. A gloved right hand held a silver disk, glinting with blue energy, while a large broadsword dangled from the left. "People this century…" A barely accented voice growled "There's just no fight in them anymore."

The tall figure covered his head with a dark hood before he turned to leave, stepping over the headless body of the retired policeman. Before he could leave, he stopped, lifting his head as though he had heard something. "So... Another walks…" He mutters to himself, eyes narrowed. Behind him, above the new corpse, triangular particles began to spin, a soft blue light emitting from them. The hooded man turns, slightly surprised. "More? And so close?" He mutters suspiciously, before leaning forward, puzzled. "Something's different…"

He continued to peer into the particles as a shape began to form in the light. The shape began to gain density and become closer; allowing the hooded man to discern the shape was definitely not human, though a guttural growl let him know that it was certainly living. He pocketed the disk and readied his sword, backing away as the shape suddenly rushed towards him. His sword swung and cleaved nothing but air as the creature, faster than he'd been expecting, flung itself upwards, smashing the roof and destroying the Hitler design, sending corrugated iron fragments down around him. "What the hell?!" He shouted, mostly to himself as he heard the creature land outside. Cautiously, the man crept out to investigate, sword held upright and ready. Upon peering around the door, outside, his mouth widened upon seeing the creature fully. A shimmer of purple, mingling with dark green and even black was illuminated in moonlight. Thin protrusions, reminiscent of feathers bristled amongst an identifiably scaly skin on a four legged, horse sized creature. "What in the Gods are you..?" The cloaked man muttered his enquiry as he remained hiding behind the door. In front of him, the huge lizard turned it's head to look back at him. The man stepped back, quickly to hide once more in the garage. Outside the lizard growled and he could hear it begin to approach the door. Backing away, keeping his eyes on the door, his leg bumped the corpse he'd left there and then a low growl sounded from behind him from beside the shimmering particles.

**Cardiff 2006 **

The hub was quiet, which would not have been unusual for so late at night, except for the fact of the individuals who remained there; Gwen had long gone home, with Toshiko not long after that and Ianto, though he may not have left, was certainly elsewhere. Jack had disappeared to his quarters, which left, completely out of character, Owen, working on his own, examining the headless corpse. The doctor was completely immersed in his own world as he performed the autopsy, not missing a single detail and noting down and recording every thing.

The cause of death was, as he had thought, obvious; the removal of the victims head. Something that had caught his attention, however, were a serious of thin post-death burns that seemed to have burned from the veins and out through the flesh and skin. Everything seemed far too familiar, and his mind kept becoming distracted by odd details, triggering memories from a non too distant past.

_Thunder rumbled and lightning split the skies as a terrible storm battered the city outside. Doctors busied themselves with tasks and patients, the hospital as busy as ever. Owen Harper was hurrying towards a patient call alarm, dodging people who were going in the opposite direction and blocking up the wards and corridors. As he hurried towards the alarm source, wondering what it could be that was so urgent and had everyone panicking (he could even hear screams, hysterical, from his destination), he bumped shoulders with a large, trench coat clad man, and was almost knocked to the floor. The large man had hurried away and Owen didn't even manage to see his face, before he regained his footing and managed to hurry, though somewhat slower to the source of the alarm. He felt as though he'd been punched hard in the stomach as he reached the scene; the patient had been a woman, perhaps in her late twenties, she'd been electrocuted, according to witnesses but seemed fine (indeed she'd only been there because Owen himself had insisted she needed to stay in at least overnight) but now she was certainly far from fine. Indeed, she was just a corpse; her head, severed from her neck, on the floor and her bleeding body, bizarrely crackling with lines of blue electricity that actually seemed as though it might be originating from her veins. Owen looked on, stunned, as chaos and panic seemed to be in control all around him._

Everything about this latest victim seemed to fit with what he had seen before, right down to the seemingly, inside out electrical burns. Even though he had seen it before, he still could not understand how such electricity could originate purely from a human being's circulatory system. Something else disturbed him too; Toshiko, even with all her expertise, had been unable to locate a name or any clue to the identity of the corpse. This too, mirrored the earlier victim- even at the hospital the girl had used a false name to check in (unless she really was Jane Doe, which Owen doubted fervently) and no one had been able to identify her following her death. Tiredness and mental fatigue began to set in and Owen yawned, suddenly aware of how late it was. The doctor cleaned up and finished his notes before leaving for home. Still thoughtful with an active mind, Owen noted without much interest that it was curiously lighter than it should have been as he drove home, though, tired as he was, he put this strange observation to the back of his mind. All he wanted to do now was to try and forget the strange case for a while and have a good, peaceful few hours of sleep.

**_Pudding Lane, London 1666_**

_A strange, almost screeching sound repeated roughly five or six times fading in volume before it was heard no more. An inferno raged throughout the street, consuming buildings much faster than the firefighters and volunteers could attempt to put it out. Something metallic emerged from the flames, slithering serpent-like away from, what seemed to be, the source of the blaze. A figure, doing nothing to aid the combat of the flames, clad in a long, brown hooded cloak reached down towards this metal snake, which remained curiously untarnished by the fire it had just emerged from. A skeletal hand reached from the long sleeve, closing around the metal serpent as the snake itself seemed to shrink, becoming no more than a cylinder, around eight centimeters long. The hand itself glinted with a steel-like glimmer; metal too. Tiny arcs of blue lightning crackled for mere seconds as the hand squeezed the cylinder gently, before retreating within the folds of the cloak. The hooded figure glanced around once to ensure it had not been observed, unlikely as the possibility had become amongst the growing chaos before it slowly began to fade away, becoming more and more transparent, finally totally disappearing with a barely audible pop._


	4. Oddity

Cold Case Cold Case

Episode 1

Chapter 4: Oddity

**Bath: 2006**

Oliver Stagg had not had a good day at all. He had fallen asleep upon a park bench, the night before, and awoken this morning upon the same bench, with the discovery that someone had stolen his satchel. To Oliver, this was a big deal; the satchel contained just about his every possession, with the exception of a few things he had hidden around his turf. He supposed he was lucky to still have his money, a pitiful three pounds, in his pockets, but his bag; it was going to change things for him. The 'alien device' had been inside it: a strange, humming disk, engraved with symbols. It was going to bring him his fortune and end his days of living alone on the streets.

He had searched for it all day, trying to ask about it discretely and trying to track down his bag. Olly thought he had come close early in the afternoon. A contact had mentioned that someone had been talking about a strange metal disk they were trying to sell, but unfortunately, Olly had been unable to find out anything more, or track down the seller. It had been like they, and any further information, had been completely removed from the world.

He had given up at around seven in the evening, reluctantly accepting that his luck was same as ever, his great chance at fortune gone. He'd managed to find his way to an old storage spot of his, a small ledge tucked away just under the edge of a drain grill, low enough and wide enough to store a small whiskey bottle. He lifted the grill and reached for it, deciding he deserved his treat after his day. Unseen by him, as he closed the grill back down, something rippled the water in the tunnels beneath, drawn up to investigate the shadow and noise above. There was a growl, but Olly didn't hear it, already drinking and trudging his way down towards the River Avon. He found a muddy spot on the bank to sit down and drink his whiskey, hoping that tomorrow, hangover filled as it would be if he had his way, would be a much better day.

As potent and burning as the alcoholic beverage was, Olly took a very, very short time in drinking it down, and could feel it in him very quickly. As he finished, however, he realised that it would not be enough to satisfy him and he would have to find more somewhere. The rather tipsy tramp rose from his muddy spot stiffly, turning to go on in his quest for more booze when a loud splash caught his attention. He turned quickly, yet, blurry eyed, saw nothing but ripples upon the surface of the water. Perhaps someone had thrown something in? Perhaps someone had fallen in? Olly staggered down towards the water, peering around and then at it intently.

"Eh eh… He-hello?!" He called, searching for any sign of someone near by.

"Is someone there? You-you need help? Fallen in?!" He listened for the reply, yet none came. The tramp grumbled, swaying a little as he surveyed the water for one last time before once again turning to leave. As he turned this time he suddenly found himself face to face with what he perceived to be a creature straight out of Hell, itself.

The yellow eyes stared unblinking, and the long, reptilian snout parted in a growl, showing long creamy yellow teeth and maroon tongue contrasting against the blemished, yellow specked, brown skin.

"Wha- What the feck… are you?" Olly managed to mumble, both confused and frightened, before the strange creature leapt, teeth closing around his throat. The predator and prey fell back, towards the dark water. However, no splash was to come. They never reached the water. A swarm of triangular, sparkling particles swirled just over the water, where the beast and man had fallen. They pulsated once with a strong purple colour before shrinking away to nothing. All was still once more; an empty whisky bottle the only evidence that the tramp had ever been there.

**Swansea: 2006**

Upon the top of the Northern most wall of the Northern Block of Swansea Castle, a strange alteration in the air could be viewed. A swirling, circular mass of grey particles gradually began to increase in corporeality, transitioning from a pale, smoky mist into thousands of small, solid spherical particles, each coloured a varnished, shining shade of ebony and each seeming to possess a halo of shimmering, pulsating, golden light. Faster and faster the thousands of tiny spheres raced until they suddenly all seemed to contract into the centre of their swirling circle, retreating inwards while the golden glow of each halo joined as one and radiated outwards. The new, large halo of light pulsated twice, while the dark, centre mass, seemed to quiver and shrink. And with a bright flash followed by a truly anti-climatic pop, the strange phenomenon came to an end, leaving behind a thick, flowing smoke-fog, dark indigo blue in colour, from which emerged a tall cloaked, humanoid figure.

Odd metallic-sounding 'thunks', sounded, not loud, as the cloaked being moved stiffly forwards, along the wall, the paling blue smoke trailing off and into the night air. Suddenly, the figure turned, dropping straight off of the wall, into the interior of the Castle grounds. The tall being strode with a stiff, purposeful gait, across the grass and stopped after six steps. There was a very slight, mechanical whirring sound as the hood tilted, the being, apparently, looking down at the ground. The right arm extended, a metallic cylinder dropping from an equally metallic looking hand. As soon as the cylinder hit the grass, a pale blue glow seemed to emanate from it before it suddenly began to extend, forming into an elongated, segmented serpent, silver and still metallic with two glimmering sapphire-like gems, glowing, apparently, in the place where eyes might be thought to be.

The serpent rose up, forming a smooth 's' shape, its gem-like 'eyes' focused upon a small circular patch of pale green weeds. The plants burst into blue flames, turning to ash, stems burning first until the weed plant was nothing but ash, the fire, though, continued to burn, down into the roots of the plant, continuing down until it reached a rather odd looking, silver coin-sized disk. A tiny yellow light began to blink as the disk reacted to the blue fire, faster and faster until the disk vaporised in a silent flash of yellow light, leaving behind a 3 ft deep, circular hole. The serpent darted forward, into the still-smouldering hole, extending itself down, so that part of it would remain, flat, upon the ground. The cloaked figure waited, patiently and static, for the few moments that the serpent remained down the hole, reaching to retrieve and shrink it back into the small cylinder shape as soon as it emerged. Held, perhaps magnetically, to the 'snout' of the serpent was a small, undecorated silver cube. This was disconnected and was retrieved carefully by the metallic, cloaked being, stowing it away, somewhere beneath the folds of its ebony garment. The same was done with the small cylinder, before the figure began to fade, intending to 'pop', once again, out of existence, when, suddenly, something caused it to pause and re-solidify, two pale blue eyes, suddenly lighting with a sapphire glow beneath the hood as the being inclined its head. Something had caught its attention. Without a sound, and with unbelievable speed, the figure rose up into the clouds and began to speed through the Welsh skylines.

Its destination: Cardiff.

London: 2006

A man with a dark hood over his head, part of a now badly shredded and terribly bloodstained cloak, stumbled through the back streets of a London estate, breathing heavily, a badly chipped and scratched broadsword clutched in his right hand. He turned a corner, then another, seeing tarmac, pavement and brick, but not truly seeing his path as he fled from a growling noise that seemed not to be inclined to give up the chase any time soon. There had been two strange lizards back at the garage. He had managed to, through pure luck, kill one as it lunged at him, plunging his sword through its throat. The other, however, had simply become enraged and more determined for blood, following the death of its mate. It seemed to be untiring, unbelievably strong and unnaturally fast. Now, as he ran, battered and torn, the swordsman had noticed something else: although the 'lizard' was definitely chasing him, growling and disturbing the landscape, he hadn't been able to see it, properly, since he started running. _Camouflage_, he thought to himself, _like a Chameleon_…

The swordsman had also noticed that the streets were unusually bright and unusually empty. These facts were things he knew the reason for and another cause for concern, though he could not afford to worry on the subject until he had dealt with this monster of a lizard. He was sure, though he could not fathom the details, that the 'lizard' and what he knew to be coming were related. He hoped to have eliminated the 'distraction' before the 'main event'.

**Cardiff: 2006**

Deep in the hub, amongst pizza boxes and many files and wires a lone monitor sparked to life, a red warning flashing with white writing. It read "Electromagnetic anomaly detected" and then, below that, in smaller text, "Climatic irregularity". A claxon started soon after this announcement, drawing the attention of Ianto. He frowned, as disturbed from his late night cleaning; he approached the monitor, and then quickly went to contact the rest of the team.

The Captain descended the stairs just seconds later, bounding towards the monitor.

"Ianto!" He called out, even before he reached the screen.

The smart, always capable employee smiled, nodding his head, knowing already what Jack was about to ask.

"I've contacted them already. They should be here as soon as possible. Shall I send instructions for them to meet you at the scene?"

"Wish you could Ianto…" Came Jack's puzzled sounding reply "Data's all over the place. According to this, the anomaly is everywhere and, paradoxically, nowhere. It's all over the screen one moment, then completely gone the next, but still detected."

Ianto frowned softly, that didn't sound right.

"Shall I inform Toshiko that we may have a virus?" He inquired, concerned.

The Captain shook his head, tapping a few keys to bring up a different screen.

"No. There's no virus. The check's running to be sure, but I think I can guarantee there's no virus."

"The, um, fairies, then?"

"No, not this time. This is something else." Jack's mood was concerned, dark.

"Something else?"

"Something else," Jack repeated, with an affirming nod "Something worse. Much worse…"


End file.
